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Picking a web browser
- Thread starter Mailman
- Start date
Google Chrome. I found it much faster than Firefox. I like how it looks. They recently added extensions so now I can customize it.
Bonus: You know those shitty "joke" sites that force you to click a box 1000 times before you can exit? Google Chrome detects that and allows you to click out of them without having to close the entire browser.
Speaking of which, in Firefox is something crashes a single tab the whole browser crashes. That is not the case with Chrome.
http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/
Bonus: You know those shitty "joke" sites that force you to click a box 1000 times before you can exit? Google Chrome detects that and allows you to click out of them without having to close the entire browser.
Speaking of which, in Firefox is something crashes a single tab the whole browser crashes. That is not the case with Chrome.
http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/
I picked Chrome only to test it out and fell in love with it. Current speedtests show that its top in nearly every category. Also, with the advent of more users, addons (similar to Firefoxes) are in development and quite a few awesome ones are out (the staples like Adblock and stuff.)
I'd recommend it, however, you may run across some browser compatibility issues with older websites.
I'd recommend it, however, you may run across some browser compatibility issues with older websites.
Chrome is pretty much the best
I consider Google Chrome to be the prettiest/most convenient, however, it's prone to crashes.
Mozilla Firefox tends to be the fastest but it also has a tendency to crash.
Internet explorer and netscape are relatively outdated.
Opera's pretty good, not a lot of complaints on that one.
Mozilla Firefox tends to be the fastest but it also has a tendency to crash.
Internet explorer and netscape are relatively outdated.
Opera's pretty good, not a lot of complaints on that one.
I've rarely had chrome crash and I've been using it for well over a year, so I would say it's pretty reliable
Certainly more reliable than IE (never used Firefox on my laptop so I wouldn't know)
Certainly more reliable than IE (never used Firefox on my laptop so I wouldn't know)
I'd say Chrome and Firefox are about equal, with the tradeoffs being Firefox uses a lot more memory in exchange for having the best adblocking. Chrome also is a bit unintuitive at first but once I'd figured out how to use it I'm enjoying it immensely.
I am currently using Chrome on my desktop, as I'm often keeping my browser open while playing WoW and using Firefox would give me a bit more lag than Chrome ever does.
I've also heard good things about Opera, but I haven't used it in years so I can't tell you much about it. Apparently the old problem with some pages not loading correctly has not been fixed.
I am currently using Chrome on my desktop, as I'm often keeping my browser open while playing WoW and using Firefox would give me a bit more lag than Chrome ever does.
I've also heard good things about Opera, but I haven't used it in years so I can't tell you much about it. Apparently the old problem with some pages not loading correctly has not been fixed.
@YTP: I had that error for a while and then I realized it was being caused by my security software. I got rid of it and haven't had the problem since.
I am an avid fan of Opera, and quite frankly, after testing it against Firefox, Chrome and Safari (lol IE), I will stick with Opera. Not only is the layout and design perfect for me (designed for Windows 7,) the speed at which Opera loads its pages seem faster than Firefox and Chrome. Furthermore, there are tests that say Chrome is faster, yet others say that Opera is faster. I'm willing to say that they're around equal, but I like Opera's layout much better.
Oh and some pages don't load properly, like hotmail. No biggie for me. I use Firefox for hotmail anyways.
Oh and some pages don't load properly, like hotmail. No biggie for me. I use Firefox for hotmail anyways.
Internet Explorer 9 is actually looking pretty good. Microsoft has recently really been stepping up their game with their products.
I'm on Firefox and probably won't change anytime soon as I'm just too comfortable with some of the extensions I currently use. Many of my friends have converted to Chrome. I also keep Chrome as a secondary browser and have IE + a few others installed for testing when creating for the web.
I'm on Firefox and probably won't change anytime soon as I'm just too comfortable with some of the extensions I currently use. Many of my friends have converted to Chrome. I also keep Chrome as a secondary browser and have IE + a few others installed for testing when creating for the web.
Am I the only one who doesn't have problems with IE? lol I have firefox installed, but I really don't like it too much. It's for back-up...Also, is chrome really that good because these posts about it are convincing me to try it.
A lot of us had to grow up with IE6 which was absolutely terrible. IE8 is better and if you haven't had to deal with IE6 much you probably won't care much. As for web developers, dealing with IE6 for so long has made them absolutely hateful towards the brand. I think I made the switch to Firefox in 2003 or 2004 and never looked back.
I'm currently typing this on Firefox. I've been using it for a couple of years now, and I'm quite pleased. I'm familiar with its interface, I've customized my options, and I'm generally comfortable with it. I find that it crashes far less than people say it does. To those who take this position, how often is, "too often?" Firefox has crashed maybe three times in the three years of heavy use I've put it through. I would not say that once per year is too often.
But because I'm a total Google fanboy, I'm interested in making the switch to Chrome. In my experience, it is a good deal faster than Firefox, not to mention prettier. Displaying my most visited websites when I open a new tab is a nice touch, if a bit public.
Despite these delightful features, three things keep me from switching. First, my familiarity with Firefox. Whether it's the better browser or not, I'm very comfortable using it. I know where everything is, I know how to change what I don't like, and I don't feel like learning a new browser. Second, the search keywords feature. In Firefox, right clicking on any search bar (from our Smogon search bar to Google search) presents you with the option to "add a keyword for this search." If you do so, searching that website becomes much simpler. To go to the Analysis page for Floatzel without first going to the Smogon website, I type the following in the url field: su Floatzel. Doing so will bring me directly to Floatzel's analysis. This works for any search bar, and the keywords can be customized (as you saw, I use "su" for Smogon University). While it's not a necessity, it's a fun feature that I've become addicted to. Third, Firefox has far superior ad blocking software available. I installed Adblock Plus, and I haven't seen an online advertisement since. It even blocks the ads that pop up during Youtube videos, and that automatically play on IGN! Chrome has adblock software, but it's not nearly good enough.
What are some of the Chrome exclusive features that you guys like? Is it just the speed?
But because I'm a total Google fanboy, I'm interested in making the switch to Chrome. In my experience, it is a good deal faster than Firefox, not to mention prettier. Displaying my most visited websites when I open a new tab is a nice touch, if a bit public.
Despite these delightful features, three things keep me from switching. First, my familiarity with Firefox. Whether it's the better browser or not, I'm very comfortable using it. I know where everything is, I know how to change what I don't like, and I don't feel like learning a new browser. Second, the search keywords feature. In Firefox, right clicking on any search bar (from our Smogon search bar to Google search) presents you with the option to "add a keyword for this search." If you do so, searching that website becomes much simpler. To go to the Analysis page for Floatzel without first going to the Smogon website, I type the following in the url field: su Floatzel. Doing so will bring me directly to Floatzel's analysis. This works for any search bar, and the keywords can be customized (as you saw, I use "su" for Smogon University). While it's not a necessity, it's a fun feature that I've become addicted to. Third, Firefox has far superior ad blocking software available. I installed Adblock Plus, and I haven't seen an online advertisement since. It even blocks the ads that pop up during Youtube videos, and that automatically play on IGN! Chrome has adblock software, but it's not nearly good enough.
What are some of the Chrome exclusive features that you guys like? Is it just the speed?
I used Firefox for years until the stability and speed was just too much for me, and then I switched to Chrome. Firefox would be fantastic with its better and more varied plugins and tab restore, but Chrome is just way less of a resource drain and more lightweight in general.
i use firefox for most of my sessions because it is a powerful browser with lots of options for adblocking, etc. chrome is cool for stuff like checking email and going on facebook, but i don't use it for heavy browsing. firefox also has the ever-handy tab restore. if memory isn't an issue i'd suggest you use both. if not, chrome.
I use Google Chrome for pretty much everything. I love using the address bar=search bar in conjunction with Ctrl+L/Ctrl+T to make searches faster. I love how I don't have to wait 10-20 seconds for Chrome to open after I click the icon, unlike my experiences with Firefox. Chrome also utilizes screen space so much better than Firefox. When choosing between them you should consider just how tab-heavy your usage is. Firefox is known to consume huge loads of memory, but it handles a large number of tabs well enough. Chrome on the other hand runs each tab as a separate process, so the more tabs you use, the more memory it'll consume, so you should keep that in mind.
Firefox has a lot of extensions that are pretty useful though. Chrome only got extensions this January, so it can't really match Firefox in that category yet, but given time I'm sure they'll build up a good enough library of useful extensions. Chrome also loads pages full of JavaScript faster than Firefox, and has a 100/100 Acid3 Score to Firefox's 94/100. Both have excellent keyboard shortcuts.
IE 8 seems to be much improved compared to older versions of IE, but I'd rather use Chrome or Firefox. IE's Ctrl+L is terrible, it's slow at dealing with JavaScript, and lags frequently. Opera is a browser that I haven't really used all that much, but from what I saw it seemed really customizable, and was quite fast too, it just never really did anything for me that Chrome didn't do. Opera 10.5 is supposedly the fastest browser on Earth. Safari's also really fast, like Chrome, but I really don't like the interface. It doesn't even allow you to reopen recently closed tabs...
To answer your question, I'd definitely recommend Chrome at the moment over all other browsers, though I guess Opera might be worth looking into.
It might not stay that way for long though. I found some preview screenshots of Firefox 4. They seem to have adopted a look similar to Chrome, and it looks pretty promising!
-(LocBarSearch).png)
Their speeds should also improve significantly as compared to their current builds. Man, if it actually opens as fast as Chrome does, I'll switch back.
And despite how terrible IE has usually been for me, I'm actually interested in IE9. It'll be making use of your graphics card while rendering pages, which should provide a richer browsing experience, and it's reported to load pages a LOT faster than IE 8 currently, at speeds comparable to Safari and Firefox.
Firefox has a lot of extensions that are pretty useful though. Chrome only got extensions this January, so it can't really match Firefox in that category yet, but given time I'm sure they'll build up a good enough library of useful extensions. Chrome also loads pages full of JavaScript faster than Firefox, and has a 100/100 Acid3 Score to Firefox's 94/100. Both have excellent keyboard shortcuts.
IE 8 seems to be much improved compared to older versions of IE, but I'd rather use Chrome or Firefox. IE's Ctrl+L is terrible, it's slow at dealing with JavaScript, and lags frequently. Opera is a browser that I haven't really used all that much, but from what I saw it seemed really customizable, and was quite fast too, it just never really did anything for me that Chrome didn't do. Opera 10.5 is supposedly the fastest browser on Earth. Safari's also really fast, like Chrome, but I really don't like the interface. It doesn't even allow you to reopen recently closed tabs...
To answer your question, I'd definitely recommend Chrome at the moment over all other browsers, though I guess Opera might be worth looking into.
It might not stay that way for long though. I found some preview screenshots of Firefox 4. They seem to have adopted a look similar to Chrome, and it looks pretty promising!
Their speeds should also improve significantly as compared to their current builds. Man, if it actually opens as fast as Chrome does, I'll switch back.
And despite how terrible IE has usually been for me, I'm actually interested in IE9. It'll be making use of your graphics card while rendering pages, which should provide a richer browsing experience, and it's reported to load pages a LOT faster than IE 8 currently, at speeds comparable to Safari and Firefox.
I use Google Chrome for pretty much everything. I love using the address bar=search bar in conjunction with Ctrl+L/Ctrl+T to make searches faster. I love how I don't have to wait 10-20 seconds for Chrome to open after I click the icon, unlike my experiences with Firefox. Chrome also utilizes screen space so much better than Firefox.
Firefox has a lot of extensions that are pretty useful though. Chrome only got extensions this January, so it can't really match Firefox in that category yet, but given time I'm sure they'll build up a good enough library of useful extensions. Chrome also seems to load pages faster than Firefox for me. Both have excellent keyboard shortcuts. IE 8 seems to be much improved compared to older versions, but I'd rather use Chrome or Firefox. IE's Ctrl+L is terrible.
Also, I found some preview screenshots of Firefox 4. They seem to have adopted a look similar to Chrome, and it looks pretty promising!
Their speeds should also improve significantly as compared to their current builds. Man, if it actually opens as fast as Chrome does, I'll switch back.
And despite how terrible IE has usually been for me, I'm actually interested in IE9. It'll be making use of your graphics card while rendering pages, which should provide a richer browsing experience, and its reported to load pages a LOT faster than IE 8.
That looks like a complete copy of the Opera browser. Carbon copy.
I use Firefox, and don't intend to change. Some of the more obscure extensions I use are unlikely to be available for Chrome, and if they are, so what? I already have them for Firefox.
I've had no problems such as excess crashing with Firefox and have been using it almost since its inception, I'm perfectly happy with the speed and am familiar with it. It's widely supported and has masses of obscure add-ons for the most unique situations, and add-ons it doesn't have can usually be found as a Greasemonkey script.
I've had no problems such as excess crashing with Firefox and have been using it almost since its inception, I'm perfectly happy with the speed and am familiar with it. It's widely supported and has masses of obscure add-ons for the most unique situations, and add-ons it doesn't have can usually be found as a Greasemonkey script.